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Modern television doesnt have much more of a sure thing than Season 2 of the hit Netflix show Wednesday. The new season comes almost three years after the shows initial 2022 debut, which garnered 350 million views and holds the record as the streamers most popular English-language show ever. These levels of scale and pop cultural pull make Wednesday a marketing dream. So far, its been Netflixs largest prelaunch social campaign ever, with more than 3 billion owned social impressions. I spoke to Netflix CMO Marian Lee about the streamer’s investment in outdoor advertising, how the team chooses its limited number of brand partnerships, and the strategies it uses to evolve the campaign in real time. [Photo: Jonathan Hession/Netflix 2025] Big Outcast Energy Last March, Lee told me that every campaign for a Netflix property has to begin by establishing a clear overall creative strategy and point of view, which then provides a lens or filter through which the marketing teams in countries around the world can determine the best way to express it in their markets. For Wednesday Season 2, that perspective was what Lee calls Big outcast energy. #WEDNESDAY Season 2 billboards spotted all across LA.PART1: Aug 6th and PART2: Sep 3rd only on Netflix. pic.twitter.com/hUMPrclBOQ— Jenna Ortega Updates (@JennaOrtegaUpds) July 22, 2025 There is so much fan connection with Wednesday being an outcast that the creative platform almost writes itself, Lee says. Everything was through the lens of this girl who is a doom-and-gloom outcast. Everyone has a little bit of that inside of them, and so there is that emotional connection. So for Season 2, we did a lot more around this big outcast energy and playing off of Wednesday and Enid, in particular. When you have a character like Wednesday, it really brings a lot to the table for us to work with. The brand has leaned into outdoor ads in a big way, using billboards and bus benches to juxtapose Wednesdays doom and gloom with Enids bright and shiny vibe. @wednesdaynetflix trying not to take it personally that enid called *Wednesday* her bestie… original sound – ThingTok – Wednesday Netflix One of Lees favorite pieces of work is when Wednesday and Enid go full meta about advertising the show itself. Jenna Ortegas Wednesday is bemoaning the obligation, while Emma Myerss Enid is fully bought in. It’s just perfect, Lee says. Of course, Wednesday would hate making promotional material. Its just a cute self-awareness that I love. Picking brand partners Brand partners have been scrambling to work with Netflix since before Stranger Things chugged New Coke back in 2019. Squid Game rolled out collabs with Kia, Duolingo, and Crocs earlier this year. And Wednesday is no exception. Wendys has collaborated on an entire Wednesday-curated Meal of Misfortune that includes two of four inferno-inspired mystery sauces called “Dips of Dread,” along with “Rest in 10-Piece” nuggets, “Cursed & Crispy” fries, and a “Raven’s Blood” Frosty, all served in custom packaging. Netflix has teamed with Booking.com for a campaign that will invite travelers to discover the world through the eyes of Catherine Zeta-Joness Morticia Addams. And for Cheetos, the focus is on the shows mischievous severed-hand character, Thing. The brands new spokeshand makes the tie-in to orange-dusted fingertips obvious and inspired. The approach we take with all partnerships is that we set the creative bar really high, Lee says. We want to work with partners who can appreciate the IP and appreciate that our bar for creative work that we’re going to put out in the world utilizing our IP isn’t just going to be a logo slap. The companys international brand partnerships for the show include Spanish insurance company Línea Directa Aseguradora, Brazilian soda Guaraná, Cheetos in Mexico, and So Paulo, Brazi-based Nubank. Netflix would not comment on specific marketing budget and revenue numbers. The company’s 2024 earnings report showed an overall sales and marketing spend of $2.9 billion. According to data firm Parrot Analytics, Wednesday made $360 million in advertising and subscription revenue for Netflix between its November 2022 release and March of this year. [Brands] have their own goals, and we have our own goals, and so when we set out to have a partnership, overall we’re really thinking about what would fit here, Lee says. And not everything will work, right? So we tend to bring big creative ideas to partners that we know share that same sensibility and are willing to go out with us and ideate on something. [Photo: Bernard Walsh/Netflix 2024] Led by fandom When Lee started at Netflix four years ago, the company was in the midst of shooting the first season of Wednesday in Romania. The marketing team told her that the show was going to be a hit. Like, a really big hit. But even then, the scale of the fan response surprised everyone. We knew it would be big and we had planned for it, but not for how deep the fandom went, how they were going to dress, how they were going to do their makeup, how they were going to look, how it almost normalized anyone who’s never fit in, Lee says. And we rode off of a lot of the fan momentum. That included partnering with Lady Gaga after a fan cut together a dance scene from the show with the artists song Bloody Mary. It sparked a tremendous 1,800% spike in the songs Spotify streams, and led to Gaga shooting a Wednesday-inspired video herself. @ladygaga BLOODY WEDNESDAY #fyp original sound – Paul Lee says that in all of its marketing, Netflix tries to plan for the unexpected to react to how fans are embracing and engaging with its shows. For Season 2 of Wednesday, Lady Gaga is reportedly dropping a new song called Dead Dance that will make an appearance in the show. The marketing team for the new season is the same as it was for the original, so Lee says there is a built-in expertise on the IP and how fans are engaging with it. That requires constant, real-time monitoring of what fans are up to across all platforms, particularly Reddit, Instagram, and TikTok. This gives the marketing team invaluable feedback on everything from brand partnerships to billboard copy. They’re really vocal, Lee says, because they have such heart and love for these characters.
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E-Commerce
The daily standup is perhaps the most recognizable ceremony observed by modern teams. Maybe thats part of the problem. People know theyre supposed to be holding standups, but they don’t remember why. When the reasons behind daily standups get lost, they become status updates. Instead of opportunities to keep everyone aligned behind the constant progress that should be happening, these daily meetings become platforms for people to justify their paychecks to their bosses. Its a daily version of government employees emailing the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) to advocate for their continued employment. Funnily enough, the people who do the least feel compelled to talk the most. The least productive people spend more time thinking about what theyll say in front of their peers and boss than they do contributing to outcomes that matter. Come to think of it, this has been the case every single time Ive found myself in a standup that wasnt quite working. Theres always been someone who talks and talks, but still leaves the rest of us wondering what they actually accomplished. The next thing you know, you have long meetings that dont focus on real progress. Its easier for the boss to micromanage everyone, and harder for individuals to spend time doing what theyre paid to do. If any or all of this sounds familiar, you have three ways out of the daily standup rut. 1. Mix It Up People get the idea that daily standups have to be in the morning, but thats not the case. You might be surprised by how much simply changing the time of your meeting can change the outcome. If your people start the workday fresh and fired up, let them put that energy into their work instead of making them wait around for a meeting to start. Holding the standup around noon can help break the day into parts, which helps some teams. Other teams might benefit more from holding the standup at the end of the day, like having a recap and setting an intention for the next day. As an added benefit, its easier to remember whats worth mentioning in the Monday standup when you dont have to think back to what you did all day on Friday before the weekend. If youre unsure of when to schedule the standups, you can always ask the team about their preferences. Which parts of the day are they most prepared to do great work? Schedule the standup for some other time to protect those most productive hours. 2. Focus on Outcomes, Not Activities Traditional daily standups revolve around three questions: What did you do yesterday? What are you doing today? Whats in your way? If these questions arent being answered in your standups, its time to reinvigorate the habit. But theres no need to get stuck on tradition or dogma, especially because it sometimes puts your focus on the wrong thing. You can probably think of questions that are more important and more relevant to your team. You should already have a tracker where all of your work is visible, whether on a traditional corkboard or in Jira or Airtable. Instead of going person by person, try gathering around the tracker and going item by item. Now youre focused on advancing the work instead of assessing individual performance. Its not about who got the most done between Mary versus Taylor versus Steve anymore. It’s about tracking the progress Mary, Taylor, and Steve are making against shared problems and goals. 3. Stop Going The very best way to stop your standups from being upward status reports is to remove power differentials from the room. Its impossible to show off for the boss when the boss isnt there. The least satisfactory standups Ive seen as a leader have been when Im in there with my management team trying to run the show and keep things on track. The times when Im most satisfied are the times when Im just peeking in to see whats going on. But the best standups I ever joined as a manager were the ones where I kept my mouth shut. And the standups I didnt join were probably even better. Even if youre sitting in the back and being quiet, people know youre there, and the observer effect comes into play. Productive teams deserve, and even need, autonomy. Saving the standup If you think about why youre having standups, the ways to make them better might become obvious. This isnt about reporting progress upwardsave that for the demo at the end of the sprint. Its about making sure everyone is aligned on whats changing and what needs to happen next. Mix up the time. Then change the format to return the focus to the items youre working on and the outcomes youre after. Make sure theres no audience for performative displays. Everything else will fall into place.
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E-Commerce
At some point in your professional life, you will be asked to do something that makes you scowl, Are they serious? A 6 p.m. brainstorming session. An important client dinner on the night of your kids recital. A weekend retreat that promises team bonding but really means you will miss your kids birthday and end up sharing a bunk bed with Carl from compliance. You want to say, Im not available, but what comes out instead is an overly apologetic word salad: I am so sorry. My kid has this thing . . . I mean, Ill figure it out. I can join from the parking lot. Or the bathroom. Ill mute! Lets just stop right there. Sorry I cant. I will be attending my daughters play is not a weak excuse. Its a sentence. Its a boundary. Its a full stop on the guilt spiral and research backs it up. {"blockType":"creator-network-promo","data":{"mediaUrl":"https:\/\/images.fastcompany.com\/image\/upload\/f_webp,q_auto,c_fit\/wp-cms-2\/2015\/08\/erikaaslogo.png","headline":"Girl, Listen: A Guide to What Really Matters","description":"Ericka dives into the heat of modern motherhood, challenging the notion that personal identity must be sacrificed at the altar of parenting. ","substackDomain":"https:\/\/erickasouter.substack.com\/","colorTheme":"blue","redirectUrl":""}} The Science of Saying No A 2022 report by McKinsey & LeanIn.org revealed that 42% of working mothers were often or always burned out, compared to 32% of working fathers. And one of the major contributors? Lack of boundaries and unrealistic workplace expectations. Women, especially moms, are more likely to feel they need to do it all, which often means dealing with invisible labor at home and being endlessly available at work. Even worse is when they do set limits, they fear being penalized. During interviews, many women told me that when they requested flexible work arrangements, they were seen as less committed and less likely to be promoted even if they were top performers. Let that sink in. The system isnt just biased, its allergic to boundaries. But heres the twist: employees who have boundaries are actually more productive. According to research from Harvard Business School, employees who detach from work during nonwork hours report higher job satisfaction and lower burnout, which leads to better performance over time. So no, you are not derailing your career by opting out of that 7 p.m. status meeting. You are preserving your energy, so you dont melt down during your 9 a.m. presentation. A Cultural Shift Has Begun For decades, parenting at work has been treated like an embarrassing rash. You know, something to conceal and apologize for. But the tide is turning. Post-pandemic, weve seen a rise in what organizational psychologists call boundary management, and companies are finally starting to get it. Policies like flexible scheduling and no meeting Fridays are gaining traction. In short, boundaries are the new black. Still, the social pressure is there. When a parent leaves early for a kid event, some colleagues still view them as just not committed enough. To that I say, let them think what they want. Your job is to be committed to your prioritiesnot to someone elses broken expectations. Scripts for the Modern Parent (or who I like to call the Professional Boundary Badass) You dont owe anyone a 10-minute monologue. Try these instead: Im unavailable that evening due to family obligations. Happy to contribute ahead of time, but I wont be able to attend live. That time doesnt work for me. Can we find another slot? Notice whats missing? Overexplaining. Apologies. A promise to clone yourself. We really must stop treating parenting like a professional liability. Its a masterclass in multitasking, crisis management, and emotional regulation. Honestly, parents should be running most things. (Well, except silent meditation. I cant remember the last time I sat in silence.) So, the next time someone raises an eyebrow when you decline after-hours obligations or say no to a third Zoom call that couldve been an email, hold your ground. Because Sorry I cant. Im a parent isnt about what you wont do. Its about what you refuse to sacrifice. That not weakness. Thats leadership in a minivan. {"blockType":"creator-network-promo","data":{"mediaUrl":"https:\/\/images.fastcompany.com\/image\/upload\/f_webp,q_auto,c_fit\/wp-cms-2\/2015\/08\/erikaaslogo.png","headline":"Girl, Listen: A Guide to What Really Matters","description":"Ericka dives into the heat of modern motherhood, challenging the notion that personal identity must be sacrificed at the altar of parenting. ","substackDomain":"https:\/\/erickasouter.substack.com\/","colorTheme":"blue","redirectUrl":""}}
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E-Commerce
Katherine, a talented up-and-coming leader at a high-growth technology company, was eager to be promoted, but specific development areas were getting in her way. Sarah conducted a 360 review that yielded largely expected results. Unanticipated and surprising, however, were the comments about Katherines technical prowess and that people viewed her as visionary and strategic. For many, blind spots represent a failure to recognize the weaknesses or biases that get in the way of performance. In an effort to improve, they may hyper-focus on those areas for development. In Katherines case, she had a blind spot for her strengths. The skills not in the job description Like many leaders, Katherine was aware of the skills that were closely tied to her job description, but didnt have the full picture of the value she was bringing to the organization. Her sole focus had been on developing the areas that were impeding a potential promotion. In our work with leadersbrand development (Rebecca) and executive coaching (Sarah)weve noticed parallels between business owners and organizational leaders. Regardless of their field, both groups can fail to recognize the very traits that others deeply appreciate. When a talent comes naturally, without deliberate effort, we often dont recognize it as a strength. Skills like critical thinking, problem solving, or strategic insight can feel so effortless that we dont notice them in ourselves. Or sometimes, we assume others are equally adept at the same skills, and dismiss their value. Self-perception is only one piece of the puzzle though. Its equally important to understand how colleagues or clients see you, and what they value most. Uncovering the true essence of your unique contribution can be an illuminating process that strengthens your personal brand and boosts your leadership effectiveness. Whether you lead a team or run a business, the principle holds: you cant act on strengths you dont recognize. Recognizing your secret strengths When you see your most intrinsic strengths clearly, everything changes. Heres what becomes possible: Personal brand differentiation: Tuning into the attributes others consistently recognize gives you clarity on what matters most to the people who influence your career or business, and how those skills differentiate you from others. That insight can help sharpen your positioning and messaging, making it easier to attract aligned opportunities with clients, projects, or promotions. Greater influence: Owning and leveraging your key strengths can increase your confidence, clarity, and credibility, making you more magnetic and influential. Faster decision-making: When you’re anchored in what you do best, you dont second-guess as much. You make decisions faster and with more conviction, because you’re not wasting energy trying to be someone you’re not. Fuel for innovation: Unearthing strengths like vision, creativity, or strategy, can give you permission and embolden you to step outside your lane, challenge the status quo, speak up with new ideas, and pursue opportunities you may have previously dismissed. If youre not sure if youre seeing your full value, there are several ways to uncover how others experience you. 360 Feedback A 360 provides feedback from multiple perspectivesusually direct or indirect reports, peers, your manager, and senior leaders. The process is typically confidential and designed to provide a well-rounded view of a leader’s performance. Two common approaches include qualitative interviews with key stakeholders and third-party quantitative assessments. Both can provide a leader with data on how they are perceived in the organization, helping to surface key strengths and pinpoint areas for growth. Client Interviews or Surveys Business owners, check in with your clients! You may know theyre happy with your service, but what about it makes them happiest? One to two-question surveys are helpful if youre merely seeking something like a Net Promoter Score, but to really uncover strengths, youll want to go deeper. Here are some of the questions Rebecca asks when she conducts interviews on behalf of her clients, adapted for your use: Why did you choose me over other [service providers]? Have you worked with other [service providers] before? / If yes, How was this experience different? Is there anything that has surprised you about this experience? What have been some of the key benefits youve gained from our work together? If a friend of yours were looking for [XYZ service], what would you want them to know about the experience? Conversational Inquiries Asking colleagues to list three to five words they would use to describe you can yield rich insights. And, when coupled with an example of that strength or trait in action, will provide you with robust data to hone in on your points of differentiation. For example: Im working on identifying my personal strengths and overall brand. When you think of me, what are the first three to five words that come to mind? When have you seen me demonstrate any of the above? What was I specifically doing or saying? This gives you real examples of how your strengths show up and helps you spot the traits others consistently associate with you. Keep a Brag Book You likely receive emails or Slack messages from colleagues or clients thanking you for work youve done. Save the notes! Better yet, copy them to an online file or go analog with a notebook. Over time, youll see themes emerge about how youre perceived and which traits others most value in you. (Added bonus: The brag book offers a confidence boost if you happen to be having a rough day.) Integrating the uncovered strengths Once weve uncovered these talents, its up to us to integrate them into our activities and positioning in a way thats intentional rather than accidental. For business owners, that may mean shifting your positioning and value proposition so that it better aligns with what your target audience values most. Consider Rebeccas brand client, Mark, a data analytics consultant serving small business owners. He had built his brand around his ability to analyze disparate stores of data to inform marketing strategy. But when Rebecca interviewed his clients, a different pattern emerged: they also praised Marks ability to see the big picture, is deep network, and his effortless ability to connect them with the right experts for their goals. These qualities hadnt even been on Marks radar as part of his value proposition, but for small business owners with lean teams, these traits turned out to be a tremendous source of value. Mark now has the opportunity to use this new knowledge as a point of differentiation in his brand: data-minded and a connector. For leaders in organizations, the integration of this new information may involve speaking up more, raising your hand for cross-functional initiatives, or mentoring others in areas where your strengths are emerging. In the case of Sarahs client Katherine, recognizing the strengths she had been overlooking shifted her mindset. Clarity on her value to the organization gave her more confidence as a leader and helped bolster the other areas she was working on. She realized that she had been emphasizing the wrong things, possibly to her detriment. With a more balanced view of how people experienced her, she began speaking up in executive meetings and reframed her development plan to include her strategic strengths. That shift in visibility and positioning led to two promotions over two years. It takes effort to see yourself in a new light. We often assume our value lies in how neatly our strengths align with our job description. But clients and colleagues may value something else entirely. If youre not asking, youre probably missing it. Taking the time to uncover those overlooked strengths can sharpen your personal brand, differentiate you in a crowded field, and accelerate your career by helping you lean into the talents that matter most.
Category:
E-Commerce
President Donald Trump is again attacking the American pressthis time not with fiery rally speeches or by calling the media the enemy of the people, but through the courts. Since the heat of the November 2024 election, and continuing into July, Trump has filed defamation lawsuits against 60 Minutes broadcaster CBS News and The Wall Street Journal. He has also sued The Des Moines Register for publishing a poll just before the 2024 election that Trump alleges exaggerated support for Democratic candidate Kamala Harris and thus constituted election interference and fraud. These are in addition to other lawsuits Trump filed against the news media during his first term and during his years out of office between 2021 and 2025. At the heart of Trumps complaints is a familiar refrain: The media is not only biased, but dishonest, corrupt, and dangerous. The president isnt just upset about reporting on him that he thinks is unfair. He wants to redefine what counts as libel and make it easier for public officials to sue for damages. A libel suit is a civil tort claim seeking damages when a person believes something false has been printed or broadcast about them and so harmed their reputation. Redefining libel in this way would require overturning the Supreme Courts 1964 ruling in New York Times Co. v. Sullivan, one of the most important First Amendment legal rulings in American constitutional history Trump made overturning Sullivan a talking point during his first campaign for president; his lawsuits now put that threat into action. And they raise the question: What happened in Sullivan, and why does it still matter? What Sullivan was about As chair of a public policy institute devoted to strengthening deliberative democracy, I have written two books about the media and the presidency, and another about media ethics. My research traces how news institutions shape civic life and why healthy democracies rely on free expression. In 1960, The New York Times published a full-page advertisement titled Heed Their Rising Voices. The ad, which included an appeal for readers to send money in support of Martin Luther King Jr. and the movement against Jim Crow, described brutal and unjust treatment of Black students and protesters in Montgomery, Alabama. It also emphasized episodes of police violence against peaceful demonstrations. The ad was not entirely accurate in its description of the behavior of either protesters or the police. It claimed, for instance, that activists had sung My Country Tis of Thee on the steps of the state capitol during a rally, when they actually had sung the national anthem. It said that truckloads of police armed with shotguns and tear-gas had ringed a college campus, when the police had only been deployed nearby. And it asserted that King had been arrested seven times in Alabama, when the real number was four. Though the ad did not identify any individual public officials by name, it disparaged the behavior of Montgomery police. Thats where L.B. Sullivan came in. As Montgomerys police commissioner, he oversaw the police department. Sullivan claimed that because the ad maligned the conduct of law enforcement, it had implicitly defamed him. In 1960 in Alabama, a primary defense against libel was truth. But since there were mistakes in the ad, a truth defense could not be raised. Sullivan sued for damages, and an Alabama jury awarded him $500,000, equivalent to $5,450,000 in 2025. The message to the press was clear: criticize Southern officials and risk being sued out of existence. In fact, the Sullivan lawsuit was not an isolated incident, but part of a broader strategy. In addition to Sullivan, four other Montgomery officials filed suits against The Times. In Birmingham, public officials filed seven libel lawsuits over Times reporter Harrison Salisburys trenchant reporting about racism in that city. The lawsuits helped push The Times to the edge of bankruptcy. Salisbury was even indicted for seditious libel and faced up to 21 years in prison. Alabama officials also sued CBS, The Associated Press, The Saturday Evening Post, and Ladies Home Journalall for reporting on civil rights and the Souths brutal response. The Supreme Court decision The jurys verdict in favor of Sullivan was unanimously overturned by the Supreme Court in 1964. Writing for the court, Justice William Brennan held that public officials cannot prevail in defamation lawsuits merely by showing that statements are false. Instead, they must prove such statements are made with actual malice. Actual malice means a reporter or press outlet knew their story was false or else acted with reckless disregard for the truth. The decision set a high bar. Before the ruling, the First Amendments protections for speech and the press didnt offer much help to the press in libel cases. After it, public officials who wanted to sue the press would have to prove actual malicereal, purposeful untruths that caused harm. Honest mistakes werent enough to prevail in such lawsuits. The court held that errors are inevitable in public debate and that protecting those mistakes is essential to keeping debate open and free. Nonviolent protest and the press In essence, the court ruling blocked government officials fromsuing for libel with ulterior motives. King and other civil rights leaders relied on a strategy of nonviolent protest to expose injustice through public, visible actions. When protesters were arrested, beaten, or hosed in the streets, their goal was not chaosit was clarity. They wanted the nation to see what Southern oppression looked like. For that, they needed press coverage. The Supreme Court recognized this danger. Public officials treated differently Another key element of the courts reasoning was its distinction between public officials and private citizens. Elected leaders, the court said, can use mass media to defend themselves in ways ordinary people cannot. The public official certainly has equal if not greater access than most private citizens to media of communication, Justice Brennan wrote in the Sullivan ruling. Trump is a perfect example of this dynamic. He masterfully uses social media, rallies, televised interviews, and impromptu remarks to push back. He doesnt need the courts. Giving public officials the power to sue over news stories they dislike could well create a chilling effect on the media that undermines government accountability and distorts public discourse. The theory of our Constitution is that every citizen may speak his mind and every newspaper express its view on matters of public concern and may not be barred from speaking or publishing because those in control of government think that what is said or written is unwise, Brennan wrote. In a democratic society, one who assumes to act for the citizens in an executive, legislative, or judicial capacity must expect that his official acts will be commented upon and criticized. Why Sullivan still matters The Sullivan ruling is more than a legal doctrine. It is a shared agreement about the kind of democracy Americans aspire to. It affirms a press duty to hold power to account, and a public right to hear facts and information that those in power want to suppress. The ruling protects the right to criticize those in power and affirms that the press is not a nuisance, but an essential part of a functioning democracy. It ensures that political leaders cannot insulate themselves from scrutiny by silencing their critics through intimidation or litigation. Trumps lawsuits seek to undo these press protections. He presents himself as the victim of a dishonest press and hopes to use the legal system to punish those he perceives to be his detractors. The decision in the Sullivan case reminds Americans that democracy doesnt depend on leaders who feel comfortable. It depends on a public that is free to speak. Stephanie A. (Sam) Martin is the Frank and Bethine Church Endowed Chair of Public Affairs at Boise State University. This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
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E-Commerce
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